That said, it was a learning experience for me (In fact, I probably got more out of it than the FOI officers who had to listen to me!). And during the course of my presentation, I asked what things we, as journalists, could do better when submitting FOI requests. Here are five answers I got back:

1. Round robins: Journalists often put in round-robin FOI requests, but how many times have journalists gone into print without getting all the responses back? The FOI officers said it frustrated them when they saw an FOI-based story going into print before all the responses had arrived. Of course, if one authority is weeks and weeks late with a response, that can’t be helped – but before the 20-day time period has elapsed.

2. Do your own research: This one got a lot of nodding from around the room. The FOI officers said they were often irritated by FOI requests from journalists who clearly hadn’t done their own research in advance. This includes getting FOI requests for documents which are already publicly available, and requests which asked for documents relating to X from public meetings.

3. Don’t say ‘did not reply’ before 20 days: Quite rightly, journalists state when public bodies don’t reply to FOI requests. It’s quite a handy way of trying to shame a public body into action (it doesn’t always work), but the FOI officers did complain that it’s particularly irritated to be pronounced as ‘not replying’ when the 20 days hadn’t actually passed. Ringing to find out where an FOI request is in the process is also a good idea.

4. Don’t second-guess exemptions: I have to admit, this is something I’ve reccomended in the past, largely because I thought it was useful way of showing that you’d thought through your request. But the FOI officers were quite adamant: Don’t second guess possible exempltions. “It’s patronising,” said one. “It’s our jobs to know this anyway,” said another, while a third said: “When I get to that bit, I just stop reading.” So for a happy (or happier) FOI officer, less is more. In hindsight, I remember my reaction when PRs used to say “It’s all written for you already.”

5. Don’t think FOI is the full story: FOI officers have a job to give you the information you ask for, but, as with data journalism, context is everything. That doesn’t make it right for the leader of Kirklees Council to veto FOI releases if they don’t have context, but it is important for journalists to remember. In other words, FOI is the start of the story, not the story in itself.

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Sorry this isn’t about your article but I am not sure how to contact you. I believe you posted online, or twitter or something (I’m not very tech literate) about lots of roadworks on the A66 across to Newcastle on 2nd february 2011. I am trying to get information about these roadworks and hoping you can help. It is important to me. B